Iryna Zarutska didn't seem much different from any of the other passengers when she boarded the late train leaving Scaleybark station a few miles outside of downtown Charlotte, North Carolina on August 22.
The pretty, 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee wore khaki pants and a dark shirt and her long blonde hair was tucked under a hat from Zepeddie’s Pizzeria where she worked.
Like other nearby passengers, she had on earbuds and her head was bowed looking at her phone as the train continued on. She had just sent a message to her boyfriend that she would see him soon.
Iryna had picked an empty row on the train, and sat in front of a man in a red sweatshirt, Decarlos Brown. Unbeknownst to her, she had caught the mentally ill man's attention, and he saw the young woman as a threat to be eliminated.
Within minutes, Brown took a knife out of his clothes, launched himself out of his seat and swiftly stabbed the unsuspecting woman who clutched her throat and cried as she slipped to the ground where she soon died.
Iryna had survived the bombs and violence of war in Ukraine to embrace a new life with her family in the United States, only to have that life snatched away from her by a man who was already well known to the criminal justice and mental health system.
Now legislators are pushing for "Iryna's Law," named after the stabbing victim, which would give death by firing squad as an option for capital punishment in North Carolina. It also increases the checks on criminals getting out on bail, prohibits cashless bail for some violent crimes and most repeat offenders, as well as alerts judiciary to take a closer look at people who pose an unusual risk of violence.
Little did Iryna know that when she boarded the late night train in Charlotte that ill-fated night, along with her accused killer Decarlos Brown, that her murder would be a rallying cry for criminal justice reform.
Join us for more tomorrow on the latest episode of the Gulf Coast Confidential podcast, “Iryna Zarutska: Escaped bombs in the Ukraine to be murdered on a U.S. train.”
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